I can't say I was really looking forward to the heavy travelling that was in store today but it was necessary so I'd just have to grin and bear it. It got up at 7am and went to go and check on Dave in the hospital. He seemed much better today but was still going to be kept in for observation. I headed back to town and bought him some more food/water before rushing to catch the 8:30 bus to Merida.

There was 1 other foreigner on the bus and when he told me where he was headed I just couldn't stop laughing. He was headed to San Ramon to see the waterfalls and didn't think it would take very long to get there. I informed him it was going to be a long round trip but I think he had already worked that out.

We arrived at Altagracia and a couple more foreigners joined the fun bus, including the American girls from the boat. They seemed quite surprised to see me on the bus as they thought we were at the Hacienda so I told them the events that unfurled yesterday. They were pretty shocked and one of them came down with the same virus the next day!

After 3.5 hours at 12pm we arrived at Merida, the halfway point of the day for me. The American guy on the bus carried on for the remaining 30 minutes towards San Ramon. Seeing as it was now midday I went straight to the reception and ordered another BBQ chicken dish, collected my camera and paid up for yesterdays meals. I had a couple of hours to kill so I spent it wisely in a hammock, mentally preparing myself for the ride back.

The American guy was back on the bus and never got to see the waterfalls. After arriving in San Ramon he had 30 minutes to sit around on the side of the road before catching the same bus back. The journey back was ridiculously uncomfortable and very tedious. It took 4 hours to get back to Moyogalpa, including an hour wait in Altagracia, making it an 11 hour round trip.

I was completely knackered so after some pizza for dinner, pretty good, and a couple of visits to see how Dave was doing I went to bed early. Dave should be discharged tomorrow so we'll be leaving Ometepe on the earliest ferry possible. Not the sort of stay I had in mind for this island and I'd love to go back one day and do everything I didn't get around to this time. No doubt the roads will have improved when I return so it may have lost it's charm.